Thing 1.5: Getting Started with Blogger

Task

Follow the instructions on this page to set up your Blogger account.

Add your blog address to the Google tracking spreadsheet.

NOTE: You may choose to blog under your real name or a pseudonym/username, but your blog content should always be school appropriate. Course facilitators and other participants will know who you are, but the "world" doesn't have to.

IMPORTANT NOTE!!!
Please, please, please, please, PLEASE....Do NOT title your blog 23 Things!!! If you want to have 23 Things as a part of your blog title, that's fine, but please include perhaps your first name such as "Emily's 23 Things". Then again, get creative with your title to "brand" your blog!! Class members will begin to associate you with the title of your blog, so make it UNIQUE. Plus, when you end up with a list of blogs to read from this class, the last thing you want to see is a listing of 20 blogs all with the same name.

‡ HELP Tip: To print this page, click the drop-down arrow on the Page tab above and select Print.

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IMPORTANT NOTE!!!
Please, please, please, please, PLEASE....Do NOT title your blog 23 Things!!! If you want to have 23 Things as a part of your blog title, that's fine, but please include perhaps your first name such as "Caroline's 23 Things". Then again, get creative with your title to "brand" your blog!! Class members will begin to associate you with the title of your blog, so make it UNIQUE. Plus, when you end up with a list of blogs to read from this class, the last thing you want to see is a listing of 20 blogs all with the same name.

Your blog address can be anything and does NOT have to be the same as the Blog Title.

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Step #5

Posting to your blog

Post Titles

In this course, you will begin each of your required posts with "Thing #". The number will correlate with the "Thing" you are currently working on. You may add extra text to your post title if you wish. For example, if you are working on Thing 10 and the topic is podcasts, then you can title it:Thing 10 - PodcastsReturn to Top of Page

Moderating Comments

Settings

Basic

Comments Settings

Archiving Settings

Email Settings

Layout Tab

Layout - Page Elements

The page elements screen is where you can add all kinds of functionality and additional information into the side bar(s) of your blog. One of the most important gadgets (sometimes called widgets) to add are buttons that will allow someone to easily subscribe to your blog. They are subscribing via RSS (Real Simple Syndication). Don't worry about the RSS for right now, you'll learn all about it. Just know that you want to make it easy for people to subscribe to your blog so they can see your new posts.

RSS Feeds

For now, we are going to add just one gadget (widget) to your blog. In this case, we'll add a Subscription gadget that will place buttons in your sidebar so readers can easily subscribe via RSS to your blog. Follow the steps below beginning with the Add Gadget link in the bottom right.

Gadgets.png

Always save any changes you make to your template BEFORE moving on to the next step. If you don't, those changes will not take effect.